Rolf Furuli Mental Health

Rolf Foruli, Scandinavian academic and Watchtower apologist, has come out with a video at times quoting figures on mental disease from the 1930's and 40's, in support of his allegation that the rate of mental problems and depression is actually only a third of what it is among the entire population.

There are numerous holes in his presentation. For one, when JW's are DA'ed or DF'ed they're no longer considered JW's and only active JW's are part of the results. Those who were victimized and suffered the most mental trauma as JW's aren't even considered in the studies he mentions.

Watch his video: "The Mental Health of Jehovah´s Witnesses" R. Furuli, on YouTube:

In a 2004 issue of Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Lester L. Grabbe, professor of theology at the University of Hull, said of Furuli's study: "Once again we have an amateur who wants to rewrite scholarship. ... F. shows little evidence of having put his theories to the test with specialists in Mesopotamian astronomy and Persian history."[5]

Furuli here in the mental health analysis of JWs, is speaking outside of his expertise not that this automatically makes his information incorrect but his record shows that he is prepared to use his academic qualifications to promote his religion regardless of factual and peer recognized evidence.

With no further knowledge of his data on mental health, it would nevertheless be significant to point out that Furuli's first MA on Babylonian texts in 1995 coincided with the Watchtower's reappraisal of the failure of their pivotal "1914 generation" and the consequent 'excuse' of overlapping generations.

The Watchtower at that time would have been desperate to find an academic prepared to use "theocratic warfare" and support the unsupportable evidence for 607 bce as the fall of the siege of Jerusalem instead of 587 bce.

This man is not even smart enough to be ashamed of himself. Sending out a survey for the congregation elders to make an assessment of individual witnesses mental health is not a 'scientific study'. It is the gathering of anecdotal judgments made by the elders in individual congregations based on their cursory observations of their fellow congregants. Even a 'self reported' survey by the individual publishers would be a more accurate assessment (Though it would still not be a 'scientific study'). The words charlatan and fraud come to mind for me after watching this video.

This man is not even smart enough to be ashamed of himself. Sending out a survey for the congregation elders to make an assessment of individual witnesses mental health is not a 'scientific study'.

That's the first thing I thought of. As if elders, with their ability to promote and sanction a publisher at will, would be appropriate men to collate such "evidence". Aside from the fact they are not qualified to do so.

Speaking of qualified, Furuli has no expertise in mental health whatsoever.

Interestingly, with regard to qualifications ,I have heard two Norweigian exjws state that further education is not especially frowned upon by Norweigian Jws. I t is far more common to find kids attending uni over there.

It seems Furuli was rarther cunning in choosing HIS congregation as an example of the range of educational norms of Jehovahs Witnesses, notwithstanding HE HIMSELF would have squewed the results somewhat.